Leaving dog alone during work day

This is a discussion on Leaving dog alone during work day within the General Dog Discussion forums, part of the Keeping and Caring for Dogs category; My puppy is about 9 months old now. and about 2 months ago she had to start staying home alone because i got a job.
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My puppy is about 9 months old now. and about 2 months ago she had to start staying home alone because i got a job.
We never crate trained her because we got her when she was 4 months old and there was never a need. Besides I don't have the heart to lock her in a cage for 9 or 10 hours while we are at work.
I live in an apartment and I have a sliding doorway that separates our bedroom and bathroom from the rest of the house. So we just shut that door so she has the bedroom and bathroom while we are gone.

Bathroom mats have to be taken out or they'd be shredded.
She tears apart the toilet paper roll even when its on the counter.
She destroyed her bed.
Our comforter, our top sheet, then finally our fitted sheet and mattress pad.

Is it a puppy thing or just boredom. But aside from waking up an hour earlier to take her for a 2 mile walk...
Is there anything I can do for her?... or should i say my stuff??

Sounds like puppy boredom to me. Remember, a tired puppy is a good puppy! Definitely try to get her worn out before you leave by giving her that long walk. Also, make sure she has things to occupy herself with while you're gone. Food puzzles, chew toys, etc, anything to distract her from the fact that you're gone. She'll settle down once she gets used to it and once she grows up a bit more.

I second luananeko. Also - keep anything you don't want destroyed out of harm's way or accept that it'll be destroyed. This includes furniture and carpeting although you can use Bitter Apple on some things.

It's a spray you can find at Petsmart and the like. You can apply it to things that you don't want the dog to chew on, and it leaves a bitter and unappealing taste in their mouth. In my experience, some dogs respond to it, and some dogs ignore it completely depending on just how motivated they are to chew. Worth a shot, though.

Hey! I have a 1 yr old large mix breed and he would go crazy without some attention during the day. I walk him 1.5 miles in the morning ( this means waking up early to give him the exercise he deserves - and its good for me too!)

I come home from work at lunch time to walk him another 1.5 miles(25-30 min) - before he knows it...I'm home a few hours later. He does still do the shredding - no bed or towels in his crate anymore. Thankfully he never ingestied anything he shreds because that could create a blockage in their intestinal tract and is very dangerous for their health.

I have gotten him an Orka dog toy...had five sides, has holes you can put peanut butter and treats in....hard for them to get out so they have to work at it for a couple of hours. Or the good old Marrow bone - supermarkets somtimes call them Soup Bones.

You may even want to pay for a dog walker or neighborhood kid to come by after school -to come and walk him for 15 min during the day..around here ( boston) its about 10-15 bucks ....but it may be worth it to you and the dogs mental happiness!

I think that you should just have one of your friends or neighbors to come over and take her for a walk and let her out to go potty that would be the only thing that you could do unless you finally get the heart to lock her up in her crate.

I'll also just throw in here that it's not too late to crate train if you want to. It is possible to teach a dog at any age. You would have to come home in the middle of the day though since 9/10 hours is too long for a dog to be in a crate.

OnTopic, So true that a tired pup is a happy pup! Personally I'd add in more exercise and try to have someone walk/play with her midday. If you don't want it destroyed, pick it up. Of course, you can't "pick up" your mattress, so back to exercise and play, plus interactive or chew toys during the day!